The Student Room Group

Teachers, Trainees and NQT chat thread!

Hi Everyone!

I'm SarcAndSpark and I'm a Secondary Science NQT!

Last year I set this thread up as a place for those doing the ITT courses to chat. Although it wasn't the most active thread, I did find it a useful place to chat and discuss things!

I decided I wanted to keep the thread going this year, so I have broadened it out to include current NQTs and teachers as well as trainees.

I hope this will be a supportive place everyone can drop in and share their progress throughout the year!

If you're posting in this thread for the first time, you might want to introduce yourself- obviously don't give out too many details!
(edited 4 years ago)

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Reply 1
Great idea thanks for the tag, I also have a Facebook page for any science trainees this year any message me if you wanna join!
Just to start us all off:

I'm SarcAndSpark and I'm going to be studying a Biology PGCE at the University of Bristol.

I'm starting off in September with two weeks at a primary school- and I have to write my first assignment about my time there! I currently live in Plymouth and I'll be doing my primary school placement close to home before moving to Bristol in the middle of September. I'm pretty keen to get started, but also feeling a bit nervous!
Original post by Jh91
Great idea thanks for the tag, I also have a Facebook page for any science trainees this year any message me if you wanna join!


That is a great idea, and I'll probably message you about that later. I'm on a uni fb group too, which is obviously great for meeting people who will be on my course.

Obviously the advantage of here is that we can all be a little more anonymous- so if anyone wants to have moan at any stage, it's a bit safer!
Reply 4
Original post by SarcAndSpark
That is a great idea, and I'll probably message you about that later. I'm on a uni fb group too, which is obviously great for meeting people who will be on my course.

Obviously the advantage of here is that we can all be a little more anonymous- so if anyone wants to have moan at any stage, it's a bit safer!


Oh yeh haha good point!!!
I started my PGCE last year but took some time out for personal reasons. I'm returning this September to finish off. I'm doing MFL secondary through the University of Sheffield
Hi everyone,
I’m Constantine2018 and I am going to be doing a ESOL and Literacy PGCE in Further Education at UCL. My placement is about a year long and is at a college local to me. I had my induction at the college yesterday. The college and colleagues I will be working with seems pretty nice. I am looking forward to starting there.
I’m not exactly a trainee teacher, I’m a 3rd year teacher this coming September so have been in the game awhile.

Having said that, I am the training mentor for my department and am more than happy to help anyone that has any questions. It is a daunting time starting out. It does get easier I promise :smile:.
I've just completed my PGCE in Secondary Biology at Brighton and have a job in one of the schools I trained at. I'm currently stressing about how you're supposed to decorate a classroom and what things I actually need, but otherwise looking forward to it :s-smilie:

Not exactly a trainee teacher anymore - but happy to answer any questions :biggrin:
Original post by Jh91
Oh yeh haha good point!!!


Yeah, I know someone who got burned by this pretty badly as an undergrad (complaining about a lecturer on a closed group), so I am always wary about what I attach to my own name. I do think fb groups can still be great though- especially for sharing resources and photos- but I like having the option to be a bit more anonymous as well!

Original post by super_kawaii
I started my PGCE last year but took some time out for personal reasons. I'm returning this September to finish off. I'm doing MFL secondary through the University of Sheffield


It's great that you are able to return now- how are you feeling about it? Good luck!

Original post by Constantine2018
Hi everyone,
I’m Constantine2018 and I am going to be doing a ESOL and Literacy PGCE in Further Education at UCL. My placement is about a year long and is at a college local to me. I had my induction at the college yesterday. The college and colleagues I will be working with seems pretty nice. I am looking forward to starting there.


This all sounds great- it's good that your colleagues seem nice! Is ESOL English as a second language? I can imagine that would be quite challenging to teach!

Original post by tom_tom_tom
I’m not exactly a trainee teacher, I’m a 3rd year teacher this coming September so have been in the game awhile.

Having said that, I am the training mentor for my department and am more than happy to help anyone that has any questions. It is a daunting time starting out. It does get easier I promise :smile:.


Sorry- I pretty much tagged everyone who had posted recently in the other thread without reading posts, as it was a little bit of a chore.

Good to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel! What do you teach?
I'm airfixfighter and I'll be doing PGCE Physics at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (aka Swansea Met). I live in Cardiff so have a little bit of a commute for the uni but hoping this means closer placements!

We've had minimal information at the moment but I recently filled in my form for my placements (whether I drive, town/city I'd prefer to be in). I had my last day in work on Friday so it's all feeling a bit real and I'm quite nervous. I'd love for there to be anyone else either doing Physics or based in Wales seeing as the education system is slightly different.
Original post by airfixfighter
I'm airfixfighter and I'll be doing PGCE Physics at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (aka Swansea Met). I live in Cardiff so have a little bit of a commute for the uni but hoping this means closer placements!

We've had minimal information at the moment but I recently filled in my form for my placements (whether I drive, town/city I'd prefer to be in). I had my last day in work on Friday so it's all feeling a bit real and I'm quite nervous. I'd love for there to be anyone else either doing Physics or based in Wales seeing as the education system is slightly different.


It's definitely a scary time! It's hard to know what to expect.

I'm not based in Wales, but Bristol does offer us the opportunity to do a placement in Wales for those who want to teach in Wales in the future. I probably won't take this option- as I'm not Welsh, but it would be interesting to hear about the differences!

Physics trainees are definitely a rare breed, though :wink:
Reply 12
Original post by SarcAndSpark


Yeh I know what you mean, it’s more for sharing resources and helping each other out than venting as we’re all from different areas/unis etc, it’s been nice so far just all panicking about teaching outside of our specialism!

Let me know if you ever wanna join, thanks again for the tag here!
@Jh91 I will let you know :smile:

BTW, what is everyone thinking of doing about facebook? I know a lot of my facebook friends who are teachers use Firstname Middlename to make themselves harder to find. I already have things completely locked down, but I do have an unusual name, so I'm thinking of taking my last name off my profile.
Original post by SarcAndSpark
Yeah, I know someone who got burned by this pretty badly as an undergrad (complaining about a lecturer on a closed group), so I am always wary about what I attach to my own name. I do think fb groups can still be great though- especially for sharing resources and photos- but I like having the option to be a bit more anonymous as well!



It's great that you are able to return now- how are you feeling about it? Good luck!



This all sounds great- it's good that your colleagues seem nice! Is ESOL English as a second language? I can imagine that would be quite challenging to teach!



Sorry- I pretty much tagged everyone who had posted recently in the other thread without reading posts, as it was a little bit of a chore.

Good to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel! What do you teach?


Yeah, ESOL is English as a Second Language. It is challenging in the sense that you have to teach at a very slow pace for the learners. If you go too fast, they might not understand everything. However, as I will mainly be working with adult learners, I don't think behaviour management is really a issue as it is in primary and secondary.
Original post by Constantine2018
Yeah, ESOL is English as a Second Language. It is challenging in the sense that you have to teach at a very slow pace for the learners. If you go too fast, they might not understand everything. However, as I will mainly be working with adult learners, I don't think behaviour management is really a issue as it is in primary and secondary.


Yeah, I can see that the challenges are very different to working in primary/secondary. I'm sure it has the potential to be very rewarding, though!

What drew you to teaching ESOL/adult literacy?
Reply 16
Original post by SarcAndSpark
@Jh91 I will let you know :smile:

BTW, what is everyone thinking of doing about facebook? I know a lot of my facebook friends who are teachers use Firstname Middlename to make themselves harder to find. I already have things completely locked down, but I do have an unusual name, so I'm thinking of taking my last name off my profile.


Yeh I’ve had it locked down for ages and have changed my last name to my grandmas maiden name, my profile picture is anonymous too just in case
Original post by Jh91
Yeh I’ve had it locked down for ages and have changed my last name to my grandmas maiden name, my profile picture is anonymous too just in case


I have some pictures where I'm not easily identifiable- so I think I might change to one of those when I'm actually in school.

Definitely considering a surname change too. Do special characters e.g.
Ø î etc make you harder to search for too, does anyone know?
Reply 18
Original post by SarcAndSpark
I have some pictures where I'm not easily identifiable- so I think I might change to one of those when I'm actually in school.

Definitely considering a surname change too. Do special characters e.g.
Ø î etc make you harder to search for too, does anyone know?


I’m not sure but you can change your name around too so that it’s Last Name then First Name which might be quite handy. I don’t have a middle name otherwise I would have used that. Yeh my profile picture is just words not even a person so hopefully I’m pretty incognito!!!
Original post by Jh91
I’m not sure but you can change your name around too so that it’s Last Name then First Name which might be quite handy. I don’t have a middle name otherwise I would have used that. Yeh my profile picture is just words not even a person so hopefully I’m pretty incognito!!!


My last name on its own is probably unusual enough to bring me up in a search. I think I'll try Firstname Middlename to start with, and then see if I need to make myself even more obscure or not!

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